Once a year, the Marlowe Society brings in a professional director and Cambridge thesps come from far and wide to join the audition queue. But what of the other professionally directed Cambridge theatrical production, and why the grievous neglect by the ADC crowd?

In January 2010, casting will begin for next year’s Cambridge Greek play. It’s Agamemnon, one of the most powerful tragedies ever written, and the acting parts are great. Clytemnestra at her height is a woman to compete with any god or man; her husband certainly doesn’t stand a chance. But more than that, Agamemnon 2010 is a pretty unique opportunity. Cambridge only puts on a Greek play once every three years, so the majority of undergraduates will only be around for one turn of the tragic cycle. Last time Agamemnon was performed in Cambridge was fifty years ago. Even a career in professional acting is unlikely to offer ancient Greek dramatics in abundance, and in the grand scheme of Theatrical Opportunity, this is about as close to once-in-a-lifetime as you get.

The Greek play has always been a plum opportunity for Graecophiles, and rightly so. The trouble is, though, that it sometimes risks being seen as the exclusive preserve of the academically, rather than the theatrically, inclined. Every three years a handful of Hellenists appear from outer space, burble out a series of incomprehensible mutterings every evening for a week, and then disappear back into the void.

This shouldn’t be the case. Perhaps one reason why it’s so often overlooked is that the Greek play doesn’t fit the typical ADC pattern, the short sharp rehearsal scramble and quick turnaround that Cambridge actors are used to. Being realistic, the language barrier probably slots in there somewhere as well. But with a healthy ten-month gestation period from auditions to performance, not only is there ample time to learn the (potentially gobbledy-)Greek, but there’s also space for workshops and masterclasses in physical and musical theatre to be built into the rehearsal process. This is slow theatre, and with it come all the benefits of a truly civilising pace.

It’s also, strange to say, very modern theatre. The performance of a fifth century BCE Greek tragedy in 2010 isn’t something to be regarded purely as an academic exercise. There is an incredibly alive tradition of reinvention and reinterpretation of these plays, and any new production of Agamemnon is playing into a conversation of the last twenty years as well as the last 2500. And there’s certainly more to this Agamemnon than just the Greek – from the perspective of eleven months’ distance, it looks set to be a moving, singing, multimedia-embracing performance, with a freshly-composed musical score and not a himation (ancient Greek overcoat – forget that – you won’t need to know it – there won’t be any) in sight.

Quite clearly this isn’t the kind of play to suit everyone. There’s a lot of process before the pay-off, and it’s a complex enough process to require a considerable degree of commitment. But it’s a serious and professionally-led production and it’s at least worth having on the radar, even for those who usually think of themselves as more the Beckett than the Aeschylus type. With a professional director, musical director and set designer, and full funding and support for theatrical and technical high-jinks, it’s a windfall opportunity for Cambridge actors which deserves more attention than it gets. Very occasionally, Greeks bearing gifts turn out to be an OK prospect.